The Bruins are the most exciting team in town right now, and that's without stars like Patrice Bergeron and Charlie McAvoy playing. Brad Marchand is one of the best players in the league, Zdeno Chara is still a top defenseman. Jake DeBrusk is already a fan favorite. Freaking Rick Nash is on the team.
But now this is happening:
That's right: TD Garden has adopted "Living on a Prayer" as the Bruins' "Sweet Caroline." They play the song, turn it down for a singalong, the whole shebang. It's a thing that happened at Pats games during the playoffs, which was kind of forgivable given the Bon Jovi connection there.
And thus all of the magic of this exciting, great Bruins team is undone. I'm not kidding. I don't want to watch the games anymore out of fear of hearing it and dying of douche chills. It's a health concern.
This is probably an appropriate time to stress that I hate cynicism. I die on a lot of hills, but I don't think anyone should be in the business of telling someone not to have fun if they aren't hurting anyone. I'm just saying that if you want to have an in-game tradition, maybe go for something that isn't one of the most two tired songs in the history of the world (the other being "Don't Stop Believin'").
The culprit here is the Garden for making this happen, but just as much blame falls on the shoulders of the fans for participating and thus perpetuating it for multiple games. They should know better.
Boston Bruins
And really, it's astonishing. Whether those are die-hards or just people who got tickets from work or something, nobody thinks higher of themselves than Bostonians. As such, it's astonishing that they would be on board with something so unoriginal, even if the song -- for as completely run into the ground as it is -- is great.
Chicago has their own thing with Chelsea Dagger. Minnesota made "Let's Go Crazy" its goal song after Prince died. The Sabres play "Let Me Clear My Throat." All cool and unique to them.
Know who plays "Livin' on a Prayer?" Every stadium and arena ever. It's the song you play between an icing call and the subsequent faceoff. You use that time to talk amongst your friends. Maybe say something like "oh these refs are tickin' me off." You know, sports stuff.
Nobody stops to sing along because "Livin' on a Prayer" is the free space on the bingo board of a sporting event. You can't make it "your thing" because it's everybody's, and quite frankly nobody should really want it to be their thing anyway.
So by all means, have fun at the game. If you need to have a singalong, pick something else. Try to be as exciting as this team is, rather than dumping a big bucket of cliche on a season that deserves better.